G1A-5
Name of Anomaly: St. Andrew's Country Parish -'Description:' St. Andrews County Parish is a three-story tall, brick-work church built in the neo-Romanesque manner. The church is well over two hundred (200) years old, dating back to the early period of American history. Parish records do not list who the founding rector of the church was or what denomination it was affiliated with. The records themselves only date to the 1920's due to a supposed church fire, however Forensic Teams have been unable to find evidence for any fire damage within the church itself. -'Special Notes:' -Ark has no purchased the property of St. Andrews parish but to maintain cover the building is leased through a dummy real-estate to local denominations. Part of the lease strictly states that no internal reconstruction or refurbishing shall occur without signed approval. -'Brief History:' In the spring of 1972, the current denominational parish of St. Andrews (United Methodist) voted to modernize and refurbish the church. Uncommon to most Protestant country churches, St. Andrews possessed a crypt and a fully-stone altar and lectern piece made of marble. During reconstruction the marble lectern was damaged, a result of loose machinery colliding with it (according to testimony given by construction workers directly to Ark personnel). Construction workers investigated and noted a hidden compartment within the base of the lectern. It was during this initial investigation of the compartment that one of the construction workers who had been examining the lectern with a flashlight reported seeing something move within the compartment itself, although no such phenomena was reported thereafter concerning the lectern itself. Further investigation of the lectern and its hidden compartment found a small wooden box with a tuft of fur wrapped around it. DNA analyses of the fur yielded inconclusive results (researcher's cite genetic degradation). The box itself is a simple pine wood box (no markings) with three gouges within that appear to be scratch marks. No other items or odd characteristics were located within or around the lectern. Shortly after this event, local towns people began reporting eerie cries or howls emanating from the woods, specifically the woods surrounding St. Andrew's Parish. The cries were of exceptional pitch and could be heard for some distance away (up to several kilometers, according to reports given to Ark personnel). Towns people reported never having heard the howls or anything like them before. Initial investigations conclude the incident is an Anomaly and the incident is labelled G1A-5. Local hunters and local law enforcement participated with Ark personnel operating under the guise of Department of the Interior federal agents in a systematic search of the local woods. The search failed to produce a direct cause for the howls, however several hunters noted unusual scratch marks in trees. Close to the base, the marks themselves were only a few inches long, but they were also a few inches deep as well. The howls possessed no diurnal or nocturnal cycle, they seemed to occur sporadically for unknown reason. Audio analyses revealed no trace of stress of excitement within the vocalizations, only a long, continuous howl. Attempts at human mimicry did not succeed, researchers conclude the howls are not originating from human vocal cords. Locals also began reporting increased cases of sickness among local children and farm animals. Cases of Anemia in which children and smaller animals afflicted were examined and found to posses small puncture wounds on the feet, hands and joints of the bodies. Medical professionals could only conclude from the placement and shape of the wounds, as well as the inflamed and agitated tissue around them, that something had been feeding off them. Victims themselves, almost all of them under the age of twelve, reported hearing cries in the woods at night and something "small and furry" scurrying up and down the windows in the dead of night. No victims reported remembering exactly when and how they were attacked, although they usually cited odd and nightmarish dreams of being fed upon by monsters. With the reports of Anomalous attacks on children, Ark personnel switched from investigative to containment procedures. Researchers investigated the mysterious box and tuft of fur and concluded, given the box's placement within the lectern, it was meant to act as some kind of warding device to trap something beneath the lectern. Ark Personnel return the pine box and tuft of fur to the lectern of St. Andrew's church. Immediately afterwards, all reports of howling and cases of anemia cease. Ark personnel monitor the church and surrounding area for two months before the lead researcher determines the containment procedure to be a success. -'Additional Information or Documentation': -All files and documentation from the parish itself have been seized by Ark personnel and are now stored in file in the Arkanum Division. To date, none of the materials seized make mention of any phenomena corralating with G1A-5. -An Adept of the Order of Hunters, who worked as a liaison for Ark with his own Order between 1963-1981, reported firing at a target he described as an "opossum from hell." He attempted to track the target but claimed he lost it in a thicket of dense brush. This incident occurred less than a kilometer from St. Andrew's Parish.